The EL Play Program was created as a solution to three critical problems:
1. 800 million children from low-income backgrounds do not have access to quality education, and end up ill-equipped with the critical life and leadership skills required to thrive at work and in life.
2. Girls face discrimination, violence and lack of agency - at home, at school and in the community. They face barriers to education, financial independence, sexual and reproductive rights, etc.
3. Paternalistic norms come in the way of boys and men learning to value girls and women as equals.
EL-PLAY challenges gender stereotypes through a unique team-sport format. The innovation fosters gender equality and inclusion by breaking down societal norms that often limit girls' potential. The game and the teaching methods as well as the competition involve parents and community members, making it a visually powerful way to demonstrate what equality and diversity means.
When girls are seen and celebrated on the football field, it sends a powerful message to communities about their potential in all areas of life.
In rural areas where this model has been implemented, we've seen improved confidence and leadership among girls, but also increased school attendance and community support for gender equality. Ultimately, we believe that when children play together without bias, they learn to lead together—and that’s the kind of change our society urgently needs.
The Program trains local youth from the same community and background as the students as coaches in the unique EL Play curriculum. Coaches are provided with lesson plans for the mixed-gender sessions and are trained to implement them effectively.
We partner with under-resourced schools and enroll the entire Grade 4 student cohort into the program. Each trained coach is assigned a batch of 20 students. Each batch is further divided into two teams of 10, 50% girls and 50% boys.
Football equipment and other materials like jerseys, studs, safety equipment, journals, etc. are sourced and made available to students, coaches and schools.
A 6-year program, students are engaged twice a week for 90 minute sessions. Each year comprises 48 sessions. Each session concludes with a debrief where students reflect on their learnings and how they intend to apply them to life and school. An experiential learning pedagogy is followed where children learn through experience rather than lecture-based learning. Creating a safe, fun and inclusive learning environment is at the heart of every session.
Coaches are mentored round the year to ensure session quality.
Mixed-Gender tournament: Students train in batches of 20 but as 6-a-side teams with 3 girls and 3 boys on the field at any given time.The tournament consists of a League format where each team plays 6 matches,which then leads to a knock-off,culminating in a National level final. Spirit circles after each match provide a platform for coaches
Over the past 10 years, the EL-Play program has impacted over 15,000 students and has been spreading steadily across regions through strong partnerships with government schools and local education departments. Today, the program reaches about 6,000 students in 7 cities and 50 villages across 4 countries in Asia and Africa, with the mixed-gender tournament now the largest of its kind in the world.
The program addresses the critical need for life skills development and has been designed to be adapted across diverse cultural and geographic contexts. Its integration within existing school schedules allows for the program to be recognized by the education department. The standardized curriculum, web-based app, and the hiring of local youth as coaches make the program highly scalable and a low-cost, high-impact approach to underserved regions.
As we introduced the program across various geographies we came across several bottlenecks that required us to adapt and further innovate the program to suit the needs of the local environment. Here are a few examples of the changes and modifications we have made:There are nutritional deficiencies which make it harder to use a big pitch and a full-length game. So, we have modified the pitch-size game length by age
One of the obstacles is parent consent to a mixed-gender game. To overcome this, we have introduced an experiential parent orientation where they experience the program in the same way as their children.
We have introduced a student scholarship for the winners of the tournament which reduces the economic hurdle to students pursuing further education and also makes the program aspirational for both students and their parents.
A specialized training for our coaches to provide them with the expertise necessary to coach mixed-gender teams was introduced 3 years ago.
Team composition requires that 50% of the teams have a girl captain and 50% of the teams have a girl goal-keeper
The first step is identifying and selecting a suitable school that serves underprivileged children and where the school leadership and teaching staff show enthusiasm and willingness to collaborate. The second step is identifying and selecting at least 4 suitable schools. Certain school selection criteria need to be followed: schools should serve underprivileged children, the school leadership should show willingness to collaborate, Grade 4 would need to have at least 20 students, the class needs to have gender balance (roughy 10 girls and 10 boys), etc.
Once the school and student group is finalized, our team will work closely with you to plan the implementation. (Please note that the program is designed for students in Grades 4 to 9.) The process includes conducting orientation sessions for school staff, selecting and training coaches, and adapting the curriculum to suit the specific needs and learning levels of the children. All the required materials and continuous support are provided to ensure a seamless and impactful rollout.
Trying the program is a step toward empowering young children with the tools they need to lead, collaborate, and dream big. Our program team will walk you through every step and ensure that the experience is impactful for the children—and meaningful for you.
